Main menu

Tag Archives: ducks

What a difference in a weeks time! Not a speck of fog this morning when Pascal and I left the house! According to my computer the temperature was 53`. I still needed my jacket ~ over a sweater & a sweatshirt, but the air was noticeably warmer than it was earlier in the week. We haven’t been to Heather Farms in a few months. In the winter when it rains it gets too muddy. Besides being muddy, it’s not the best time to go, as most of the geese and the ducks have gone elsewhere, and hardly any of the plants in the gardens are blooming- buts that’s Winter.

Springtime at Heather Farms is always spectacular, and an ideal place to bring the camera. I am so looking forward to getting new photos for my notecards- Hmmmmm- it’s really NOT actually spring yet. But it FEELS like spring. I look over at Pascal who’s looking out the window of the car. Do I turn left & go to town for a walk, or do I turn right and head for Heather Farms~? I really, really, don’t want Pascal to get muddy. But it’s been two weeks since we’ve had rain. How muddy could it be now?

I turn right. We’re going to Heather Farms!!

We have about a 20 minute walk down a paved road before we actually get to Heather Farms and I’m happy to see along the way that there are several clusters of paperwhites ~ and even a few early daffodils, in full bloom; Spring was in the air!

Arriving at the path to Heather Farms we stood at the top of the hill for a few minutes, surveying the fields and the canal below us ~ The crisp early- morning air seemed so still~ and so quiet! The ground definitely was still wet, but if didn’t look too muddy. Okay, Pascal! Let’s go!

We had just barely started down the hill when I heard the familiar sound of geese squabbling. All right! Surly I’d get some pictures today! Rounding the curve in the path, we arrived at a clearing beside the pond that the geese & ducks have made their beach. This morning, with the exception of the ducks swimming in the canal, the pond appeared empty. But the beach was packed~ packed with geese! Mating season must have begun. The beach reverberated with squawking, reminding me of a political convention. One goose would get right into another’s face, squawking & nipping with wings extended, until the other goose backed away. We stopped to watch “the show” for a few minutes. I was anxious thinking that Pascal would bark at them and disrupt everything, but he didn’t make a sound; in fact, he looked bored~ so after taking a few quick pictures, we moved on.

On the opposite side of the path, just a bit beyond the noisy beach, it was quiet except for the light sound of water splashing. The canal at this point, was overgrown with reeds so at first I didn’t notice the pair of mallard ducks floating among them. Getting closer I saw a large white shape- Excited, I reached for my camera. At first it was hard to tell what I was looking at, as all I could see were two stick-like, long legs extending from a large, white, headless body- The head was buried under the water, but I had an idea of what it was. Last fall I was lucky enough to come across a beautiful, graceful bird, the Snowy Egret. Standing alone on the beach that today was populated with geese, it looked so elegant & magnificent set against the backdrop of trees in their fiery red orange & yellow, fall-leaf attire. This, I discovered, was the origin of the splashing sounds I was hearing. When the egret lifted his head from the water, he started a strange sort of stamping “dance” in the reeds. With one of his large feet he’d stamp the reeds continuously, now & then submersing his head below the water. The stamping must have been a way to make insects, or whatever he was eating that was in the reeds, come out so he could catch catch them in his mouth! I took several pictures of him but he seemed to be in constant motion so it was difficult to get a good one. I feel rewarded to have finally gotten this one good picture of him~ We walked just a bit further down the path , and there, standing directly in front of us was a beautiful mallard duck. He stood very still as if he were posing. “Click” – gottcha! It may not have quite been Spring yet, but it was definitely in the air!

I’m excited to add these new photos to my growing collection for new notecard sets to be added to my shops soon. Last week was a busy one, but I was able to complete and list my fifth lamb, Amelie~ and I listed two new sets of note cards, Glistening Orange, and Bench of Poppies. I’m currently still working on the baby blanket I’m knitting for my grandson who turns 1 this week. I haven’t worked on a dress since before Christmas. I thought it would be a nice break to work on my knitting and notecards and while I love doing both of those, I hadn’t realized until a few days ago, how much I miss working on my dresses, so this afternoon, guess what I did! I cut out a new dress! All that I know right now is that it will be a size 2 and it’s a beautiful shade of light, light, pink. Mainly I need to concentrate on finishing the blanket, but if I have a dress all pleated; ready to smock & embroider, I may just be able to work on it a bit this week too. I’ll let you know~ Have a great week!

Spring! It’s everywhere I go, filling me with inspiration to create in it’s image; things that are flowery & light as the breeze spreading its signature scent. Pulling weeds in my garden under the appletree, I was captivated by the subtle, sweetly-spiced scent of appleblossoms~ how to express that in a creation?

Pascal (my dog,) and I, walk daily. Camera in hand, we alternate between downtown, with its beautiful fountains & planterboxes, and Heather Farms- ( several local acres of designated open space that’s been set aside as a wildlife preserve, with walking trails, gardens, ponds, meadows and a duck-filled canal.) Spring being such a short season, my camera clicks tirelessly as we walk, attempting to preserve the beauty Spring has scattered in its wake~

Currently, everything I make reflects my experience of Spring. Looking at my photos I immediately want to make notecards~ I’m excited! Here in my hands, the pictures enable me to hold onto Spring, long after it has passed. On the trees, the wind & rain can destroy the beautiful blossoms, but here on my notecards, they are saved; preserved in all their beauty – How wonderful to be able to have Spring always within reach!

As with the notecards, my handsmocked and embroidered dresses reflect my experience of Spring- One recently finished dress, A Dressful of Blooms, was totally spring inspired. Looking at it, I recall the spicy-sweet scent of the apple blossoms on my tree. Perhaps looking at it , you too will have a sense of the flower-scent~?

Today on our walk at Heather Farms, in addition to all of the new spring flowers, resplendent under water drops left by yesterday’s rain, we witnessed a very special spring addition~

Walking down the path beside the canal I saw what looked like something moving in the grasses on the far side of the canal. I stopped to see if I could tell what was there- At first I saw the mother duck. Her dark coloring blended in so well with the hillside that she was difficult to discern at first. She was standing very still looking back at us. Incredibly, Pascal didn’t bark! Watching her, I suddenly saw movement in the grass behind her and watched in awe as 5 tiny ducklings shuffled awkwardly to get close to her. After watching us for a while, I guess she decided we didn’t pose much danger, because she started walking down the bank towards the water, the 5 little ducks following close behind~ in one straight line! Down the hill they stumbled & into the canal, gliding on the water, mom & her 5- in one straight line, swim masters already!

We followed them a short way down the canal and then stopped and watched again as the babies followed their mom out of the water, up the bank and across the path towards the larger pond~ in one straight line!

These pictures, along with others taken that day will be available on sets of notecards in my shop. Spring passes so quickly that I’m so happy to have caught at least a bit of it before we move into summer~ which I know, is lurking just around the bend~

Today, stormy- heavy winds and lots of rain~ perfect for staying in and working! After working on knitting a baby sweater and making and listing notecards for two months I finally feel ready to return to making dresses! I never intended to be away from sewing for so long, but I always seem to underestimate how much time something’s going to take. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. If I knew before starting how long a project was going to take, maybe I’d never start!

I’m not complaining. It wasn’t a bad two months. I have loved knitting for as long as I can remember. I find it very relaxing and enjoyed it even more because I was knitting it for my grandson, who’s birth will be sometime this week!

The notecards are a much newer project for me, as I began creating them just this past year. I love photography and I love making the cards. It was very easy to spend that much time working on them. The hard part was pulling myself away~ but I love making hand- smocked & embroidered dresses, too, so it’s time to go back to dress-making, but before I do, I’d love to give you a glimpse of a few of the photos you’ll find on the notecards I’ve completed.

I added a fourth collection of notecard sets that I’m excited to introduce. It’s titled, “This n That”and is simply an assortment of four photographic cards, tied together by theme, color, or in an obscure way. The photo above is from one of the cards in that new set. It is a photo of the artwork from the front of one of my handsmocked & embroidered dresses. It occurred to me that the scenes on my dress fronts would create very unique & fun notecards, and I’m pleased with the results.

Below are five more photos that appear on some of the cards just made. Each set is ooak and consists of a combination of 4 photographic blank cards. This represents just a small fraction of what you’ll find on Rabbit Whisker notecards.

I hope you will come and enjoy looking through the different sets. A few of the sets have pictures of Pascal, some of which you may have seen in previous blog posts~

The wind outside is blowing sheets of rain against my windows, it’s steady beating reminding me that I still have lots of work to do, LOTS- (no underestimating time here.) I’d like to be able to tell you a bit about the new dress, but at this point, all that I know is that it’s going to be a size1. My next step is to go to the trunk where I store my fabric, and choose whichever appeals the most to me to be working on right now. Once my selection is made I’m hoping for an onslaught of design ideas. Other than knowing the size I’m going to make, the dress will be as much a surprise to me as it will be to you~ Hopefully by the next time I write I’ll be able to post a picture of a finished dress- or at least pictures of an, ” almost-finished dress- ” (if I’ve underestimated my time again!)

And it truly was that morning, however one essential element to this scene is missing in the photo; and it was the element most dominant to the scene. Because of its nature, you can’t see it here. The clouds, the trees, the grasses, even the tiniest mustard flowers, were vibrant with the discordant shrieks of geese and ducks, combined with the clear, high, trills from the meadow filled with red-winged blackbirds.

I stood there for a few moments trying to take in the sounds, sights and scents of the magnificent scene that surrounded me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a loud display of bird sounds in a single place before. It was as if one-hundred people were all speaking at once, as loudly as possible, each in a different language! To get an accurate view of what Pascal and I really saw and heard that morning, imagine what that would sound like, then, holding that in your mind, look at the photo again!

Besides loving to get out and walk in the fresh, early morning air, as I have mentioned in previous posts, I find that walking is an excellent way to clear my mind. I also find these walking experiences, the sights, the sounds, the scents- are the best fuel for inspiring design ideas for my dresses. Almost all of my dresses have flowers on them, and a growing number of them have entire scenes, such as you see on this dress- These scenes I’m sure, derive from our walks.

And then I think of Pascal. He was there too, experiencing the very same scene~ only in a very different way- from a very different vantage point~

I think it was the poet, William Blake, (but I could be mistaken,) who wrote about the beauty in a blade of grass~ Pascal’s perspective? Great things going on in that little pup’s mind!